Death Princess
by TheStoryChoosesTheWriter
Summary: Daughter of Hades, Layla Harris arrives at camp half blood after a dark and horrible childhood. Things start to look up when she becomes best friends with Leo and meets her brother, Nico. But will that happiness last after she meets her father and learns of his plans for her. Starring Nico, Leo, Piper, Jason and Thalia. Percy and Annabeth make appearances.
1. New Horizons

**Hello and welcome to my first multi-chapter PJO fic! This is an OC fic set after the war with Gaia (I'm just going to assume that everyone is alive and happy after the house of Hades) **

**A big thank you to fantasy137 for Beta-ing! without you this wouldn't have flowed half as well as it does and there would have been some serious British/american clashes such as colour and color and crisps and chips (why do you people insist on having different names for everything!?)**

**And I'm only going to say this once: I don't own the Percy Jackson series. I wish I did, but I don't.**

**enjoy :)**

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Chapter 1: New Horizons

Groaning, I turned over in bed, trying to remember the dream I'd just had. I had been running away from some freakish monster thing that looked suspiciously like a huge eagle of some sort.

Then a freaky half man, half donkey... No, half goat - he had gotten offended when I said donkey - named Grover had rescued me and brought me to a place he called Camp Half-Blood or something.

Once we were there, I met this horse man – or centaur as he called it, named Chiron. He looked a little shocked to see me, something about my appearance made him uncomfortable. Nothing unusual there; my long black hair that covered half of my pale skinned face, along with my black eyes that looked like a void into hell, usually didn't help me make friends. Neither did the fact that I chose to wear 'gothic' clothes. But hey, I lived in a rough part of New York City; you don't go skipping around in a pink and purple butterfly t-shirt around there, you'd get stabbed! Seriously.

The dream had gone well from then on. A boy named Leo, who claimed his father was Hephaestus, the god of mechanics or something, was one of the first people to talk to me. We made good friends but since I didn't have very good people skills, my friend making stopped there. But then, after we'd eaten dinner, there was a camp fire. It was amazing, everyone sang happily and the flames grew and changed color with the mood.

That was when this good, but admittedly strange dream turned into a nightmare.

A black shadow passed over the group of people. It seemed to be emanating from somewhere above me. The flame shrank and turned a deep purple as everyone turned around to see what was happening. There was a collective gasp. I looked around in confusion.

"Look up," Leo whispered to me. I looked up to see a skull and crossbones hovering over my head. There seemed to be a cold breeze surrounding the fire had turned an impossibly dark shade of purple and everyone shrank away from me as if I had the plague.

"What does it mean?" I asked.

"You've been claimed by Hades...your father," Leo told me. I blanked. How was that possible? Sure I'm a demigod, I can accept that; it would explain how weird things kept happening to me, and how I'd never met my father. Come to think of it, Hades as my dad made sense too, but the reaction I had gotten was not what I wanted.

Thank the gods it was just a dream. Wait! Did I just say thank the _gods_? Since when do I say that? I don't even believe in _one_ god!

After my mother left my 6-year-old self at the door of a foster home, I'd lost all belief in god. If gods existed, then surely I wouldn't have lived my entire life running away from foster home after foster home. I wouldn't have started carrying a knife around at the age of 10! Surely, if my father was the god of the underworld, he would have…hmm I don't know…STOPPED the monsters coming for me? No? Fine then.

But despite the fact that I didn't believe in any gods, I lay in my bed in the - Attley's…I don't know, I never stay in a home for more than a month, so I never really bother learning the names...it might have been the Dalton's - and I thanked every god I could think of because the dream wasn't real.

Then I opened my eyes.

I wasn't in the dingy old room of my foster parent's home. I was in a four-post bed with black silk bedding. The room was like a gothic mansion and I had to admit...I loved it. But then it hit me. My dream was real. I was a daughter of Hades and everyone hated me. Great.

Dragging myself out of bed, I pulled on my black skinny jeans, boots and a camp T-shirt. The bright orange of the t-shirt made me uncomfortable; I was visible. I shrugged on a leather jacket and pulled my hair over my face. Black made me comfortable; I could blend into the shadows wearing black, and the shadows were safe.

There was a knocking at the door, and Leo's curly-haired head appeared.

"Hola mis amigo."He grinned, "How are you this morning?"

"Ugh, why me," I groaned, flopping back onto my bed. Leo looked confused.

"What's up?"

"I had it rough growing up! Now I find out my dad is Hades and everyone HATES me!"

"That's not true, I like you. And I know a thing or two about rough childhoods."

"I'm sorry Leo, I know you said everyone here is troubled in some way,but I don't want people to be scared of me or whatever...I don't have the best people skills," I admitted.

Leo chuckled."I figured...you're not the only Hades kid though. There's Nico, he stops by now and then, and Percy Jackson is the only kid in his cabin."

I sighed. "Things might look up, I suppose, but I'm a child of Hades. Don't expect me to be optimistic," I joked.

"Come on then Lays," he sang, dragging me out of the cabin and into the annoyingly bright sun. My real name was Layla Harris (I know, not very Hades like) but apparently, that was too much work to say, so Leo started calling me 'Lays'. It annoyed me; I didn't like being called a brand of chips.

"Ugh, I hate Sun," I grumbled, recoiling from the bright light.

"You truly are Hades daughter,"Leo laughed.

I hit him playfully on the shoulder. "Shut up or I'll send you to the underworld."

"Oh no," Leo wailed sarcastically. "Please no, Princess Death, no!'

"Gods, please don't call me that, Flame Boy."

"Try and stop me!"

Our playful banter came to an end as we reached the dining pavilion. Everyone lapsed into silence. What did they think I was going to do? I knew I could manipulate shadows, and sure, I suppose I did send off a pretty menacing aura, but if they haven't even talked to me why would I hate them enough to hurt them? Leo was fine with me! Would I ever understand other people?

"Bye," Leo muttered, before joining his siblings at the Hephaestus table. I waved and turned to sit by myself at the Hades table. The only person besides Leo, who wasn't staring at me with a hint of fear, was who I assumed to be Percy Jackson, the only person other than me who was alone. Percy was staring at me curiously, yet understandingly. He knew what it was like to be alone.

Once I was halfway through my cereal, Leo came bounding over to me followed by a really pretty girl with uneven brown hair and eyes that couldn't seem to decide what color they wanted to be.

"Hey Lays!" Leo chirped.

"Don't call me that Valdez; I'm _not_ I brand of chips!"

"I like Lays better than Layla!" he joked.

"Hey, no one ever said anything about Leo being a good name, but I'm not gonna start calling you...something else..." I said, unable to come up with a witty food related nickname for him.

"Fine I'll just call you Princess Death." He grinned.

I stood up and stared down at him. Thank Hades I was taller than him (I suppose I actually _did _have Hades to thank for that). He shrank back, the way you do when a really intimidating person stares at you with a 'what-did-you-just-say' look. "I told you not to call me that!"

Leo recovered quickly after I'd sat back down; the whole hall had gone silent when I'd stood over Leo. They probably expected me to do some sort of shadow voodoo on him or something. But now, Leo just burst out laughing.

"Alright, I'll just stick to calling you Lays," he said with a mischievous glint in his eyes. What? Did he think that since he had fire he could defeat one of _my_ shadows? I think not.

"You think you can beat me Valdez?" I asked, casually eating a spoonful of cereal.

"You wouldn't have much darkness to work with if it's me," Leo laughed. I laughed too.

Piper cleared her throat, looking very uncomfortable. "Are you two done flirting?" she asked, mainly to Leo. She seemed too afraid to look at me directly.

"We're not flirting Pipes, we're _deadly_ serious," Leo told her soberly, looking at me when he said deadly.

"Shut up, Repair Boy, and introduce me to your friend." I was shocked at how easily I was able to talk to Leo, even in the presence of other people. I was even more shocked when I realized that Leo was my first real friend.

"Oh yeah. Pipes this is Layla, Lays this is Piper," he said, gesturing to each of us. I glared at him when he called me 'Lays', but he just grinned and stole some of my cereal.

"Nice to meet you," Piper said, offering me her hand. I stared at it for a second longer than I should have, before finally taking her hand and shaking it. I realized why I was able to talk to Leo so easily. He always joked around, nothing was ever too serious, and even when we discussed serious things, we did so in a joking tone. Piper on the other hand, was being really nice and sincere, and I found that hard to respond to. I probably should have said 'nice to meet you too,' and then smiled. Instead, I grunted and looked down at my cereal.

Yes, well done Layla, way to make friends!

"Jason is visiting from Camp Jupiter today, I'm going to go make sure everything's 're going picnicking!" With that, Piper strolled off. She looked so pretty; I felt a pang of jealousy. It was like she was trying _not_ to be pretty but it wasn't working out for her! I mean, I didn't try either but it resulted in me looking like an emo, gothic kid. Nothing like her. Snapping myself out of these new thoughts, I mentally kicked myself - since when do I care about appearance?

I noticed Leo was staring at Piper's retreating figure with a slightly annoyed look on his face.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Nothing," he replied a little too quickly.

"I can tell something's up."

"I thought you had zero people skills," he joked.

I started trying to put the pieces together and gasped when I reached a conclusion. He stares at Piper and looks annoyed that her boyfriend is coming to camp. Yes, it all made sense."You like Piper," I said, smiling triumphantly.

"And you lie," Leo grumbled.

"About what?" I asked innocently. I certainly _had_ lied a lot in my lifetime, but I don't think I'd lied to Leo yet.

"Zero people skills my ass!"

"So you _do_ like Piper!" I grinned.

He sighed. "Yeah…but don't tell anyone!"

I giggled."Who am I gonna tell Valdez, the shadows?"

"You'll make more friends; the people here are nice and accepting people."

Just then, a tall black-haired girl with brown eyes strutted over to my table with a gold-medal-worthy bitch sneer on her face. I'd met plenty of people like her in my foster homes and I didn't like them. My guard was up instantly. In my foster homes, bitches like this usually tried to talk to me once, then never again out of fear.

"Hi there new girl, what's your name?" she asked in a sickly sweet voice.

"Layla," I answered in a non-conversational tone.

"Oh that's a pretty name sweetie," she drawled sarcastically."I'm 's nice to meet you."The more she talked, the more I wanted to punch her in the face; every word she spoke was dripping with sarcasm.

"Get lost Drew," Leo barked. I sent him a grateful look.

"Shut it, freak," she snapped. Then she turned back on me, "So Layla, that's a strange name for a kid like you...you know I bet you'd be _so _much prettier if you ditched the black and wore something...a girl would wear." Her words seemed to make me want to run to the nearest mall and buy the frilliest pink dress and wear it with so much makeup that I was orange and so much perfume that I choked on the stuff. Thankfully, I snapped out of it.

"Uh...I'm fine thanks," I told her. Drew looked insulted at that comment.

"Fine then, remember that I tried to be nice," she said, strutting off, black hair fanning out behind her. Once back at her table, she sent me a death glare which I gladly returned. Satisfaction rose in me as she shrank back into her seat. That's right bitch, nobody out-glares a daughter of Hades!

"Ugh, I hate Drew," Leo growled.

"Yay, now I have just as many enemies as I do friends," I fake celebrated.

"Pipes is your friend," Leo reminded me.

"Barely," I argued. "I mean, she's so nice. You joke around, so you're easy to talk to, but Piper is so nice and sincere I just can't talk to her."

"Piper _is _nice. I'm sure she considers you a friend."

I giggled. "And I bet _you_ can't talk to her for reasons other than being socially awkward."

"Shut up Death Princess."

"I thought it was Princess Death?"

"Death Princess sounds better." I could only nod in agreement at that.

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**Okay, I'll try to keep my ANs short from now on. Thanks for reading! **

**Question: do you think the current title or the light in the dark is good for this? I had a really hard time coming up with a name and credit for both names I've offered goes to my wonderful Beta, fantasy137. **

**If you can think of a name for this fic that might work better than Princess Death please put it in a review or PM me :)**

**Also put your ships in a review/ PM and I'll try and incorporate them in.**

**Sorry, I said this would be short :/ please let me know what you think of this fic in a review xoxo **


	2. Family

**A big thank you to Darquess-Vile-Pleasant and Sarah-Supernatural14 for favoriting this and fantasy137 for favoriting and following :)**

**Thanks to fantasy137 for Beta-ing, I don't know where I'd be without you.**

**I'm a little bit upset with the initial response this had gotten but I suppose you have to work extra hard with an OC fic, hope those of you reading this like this chapter :)**

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Chapter 2: Family

Walking along the grass to sword practice with Leo was easier than I ever thought it could be. I was never good with people. All the 'friends' I had made in the foster homes had been made so I could use them to my advantage. So I could get a good seat or the last slice of pizza. In some cases, I had made friends with people so they wouldn't kill me in my sleep. But none of them were true friendships. In fact, I couldn't even remember their names.

But with Leo, I wasn't friends with him because he could get me a good seat or some food, and I don't think that if I wasn't friends with him he would kill me. We were just friends, and I liked it.

But I wasn't going to tell him that.

The thing I liked about my friendship with Leo was how everything was said jokingly. Serious things were taken as a joke on the outside but taken to heart at the same time. I felt like I could tell Leo anything and he wouldn't treat me any different, he usually just made a joke out of it and that made me feel better.

"Hey Valdez," I began in a mocking tone, "I'm glad we're friends."

"Me too, Lays. I like having a walking, talking bag of chips as a friend," he joked.

"Shut up," I laughed.

As we reached the arena, we filed into the seats along with the other campers. Next to me was a couple. A boy with dark hair that flopped into his sea green eyes, who I recognized as Percy Jackson. This close, he seemed very...buff. Leaning on his shoulder was a blonde haired girl with a book on her lap. I couldn't see her eyes but I figured she was from the Athena cabin since not many other demigods _read._

Percy turned to me, "Hey, you're the new kid from the Hades cabin." He gave me a friendly smile.

"Yeah," I replied awkwardly.

He looked at Leo and saw how I leaned towards him, unconsciously looking for support and familiarity from him while I was talking to new people. "You're friends with Valdez?" he asked in a mockingly concerned voice.

"Yeah, but you know what they say, you can't choose your friends," I laughed and elbowed Leo.

"Hey, that's hurtful princess, very hurtful," Leo cried in mock pain. Percy raised an eyebrow at Leo's nickname for me. It quickly registered that that was the sort of name a boyfriend would call his girlfriend. I shuddered. Though I liked Leo he was DEFINITELY just a friend. I don't know _what _my type was but Leo wasn't it.

"I'm Percy," he told me, offering me his hand. I took it, learning from my earlier awkwardness.

"Layla," I said.

"Nice to meet you, Layla. This is my girlfriend, Annabeth," They looked so protective of each other; it was almost like they'd been to hell and back and would only ever trust one another.

"Nice to meet you," Annabeth said. Her grey eyes were warm and welcoming, they were absent of the slight traces of fear everyone at camp other than Leo, Piper and Percy had shown, but at the same time they looked haunted, like nothing in this world could scare her anymore.

"Uh...and you," I said, feeling really awkward now. There were too many people all in the same conversation and my brain was starting to go into lock down mode. I felt like I should apologize, but at the same time felt like I shouldn't speak at all. I'd bore them with my sob story of a life if I got into details. My palms started sweating as everyone (at least that's how it felt) started looking at me as if I had to say something, like there was a pre-scripted line that I hadn't learnt but I was supposed to say.

Luckily for me, Leo noticed my unease. "Lays here has social issues. Rough childhood and inherited introvertedness. Is that a word? I think it is."

Annabeth nodded in understanding. She put her hand on mine and I flinched involuntarily, but didn't move away. "We've all had a rough childhood here Layla, we understand."

"I bet you and Nico will get along like a house on fire," Percy laughed.

This confused me. Leo had mentioned that Nico was also a child of Hades, was he socially awkward too? "What do you mean?" I asked.

"Ah well, Nico..." Percy paused to think about how he should word it, "his sister died on a quest when he was 11 or something and since then he never really had anyone. Then he rescued Hazel, a child of Pluto..."

"That's the Roman version of Hades," Annabeth interrupted.

"Yeah..." Percy continued, "He rescued Hazel from the underworld, long story, and now she's really the only person who he can talk to...I mean I'd like to think I'm his friend, but you can't really tell with Hades' ki-" Annabeth elbowed him in the ribs and glared at her boyfriend. "I mean you can't really tell with _Nico_," he corrected himself.

"Aw, poor Nico. I thought I had it bad...nobody I loved died on me..." Then I whispered under my breath, "I haven't loved anyone since I was six."

"What was that?" Annabeth asked. Her concerned tone told me that she had heard me but wanted to make sure she'd heard right.

I sighed in defeat. "My mom was an abusive, alcoholic druggie and gave me to the social workers when I was six." Then I did what I always did when I was myself that other people have it worse. "But poor Nico, I bet his sister was the only person he had and she died. Sometimes I think caring is a disadvantage."

"Layla, that's not true," Annabeth said. Yay, now we were in sincere and caring mode. _Not good, not good, abort situation, abort!_

How was I supposed to get out of this? These guys seemed to be my friends; I couldn't push them away now. Luckily I was saved by Chiron entering the arena to start the session.

"Quiet down, quiet down," Chiron called. Everyone stopped what they were doing and turned their attention to the half-man half-horse dude.

"Today we'll just take it easy and do duels between pairs, so pair up."

Immediately, I was glued to Leo's side as we made our way down to the arena. I was confident with sword fights; I'd been in enough fights to have faith in my reflexes. My only worry was holding a sword. Crap. A sword.

Leo pulled a hammer from his tool belt and every demigod in the room was arming themselves. Meanwhile, I had nothing. Well, I had the dagger I always had in my boot but that wasn't sufficient against a hammer. Just then the room dropped in temperature; I sensed a disturbance in the shadows and felt a new life aura appear. A tall, dark-haired, pale guy dressed in all black with a somber expression emerged from the shadows.

"Nico!" Leo called in greeting. Nico looked up awkwardly. I could see why Percy thought we would get along; we were a lot alike, although I worried that we'd end up sitting in an awkward silence since we were both too shy to start a conversation.

He walked straight up to me, nodding slightly to Leo in response. "You must be Layla Harris?" He asked it so uncertainly that it sounded like a question.

"Yeah," I confirmed. We were both staring at the ground.

"Uh...our dad told me to come and give you this." He handed me a sword, never meeting my eyes.

The sword felt right in my hand. It was perfectly balanced with great grip and I could feel the power emitting from it.

"It's Stygian Iron, I have one too." He showed me his.

"Awesome," I smiled.

"It's nice to meet you, I'm Nico by the way," he stuttered.

"Layla," I said. Well that was stupid of me. Clearly, he already knew my name. He didn't offer me his hand and I didn't offer mine, we sort of just stood there staring at the ground.

"Yay, family reunion, Lays! Hey, yay, Lays, that rhymes! Anyways…you have a weapon now so should we fight?" Leo said, effectively breaking the silence.

"Yeah, sure. Are you staying Nico?" Thank the gods for Leo and his unique ways of breaking tension.

"Sure, I might as well stick around," he shrugged then went and sat in the stand. "Oh, uh...be careful with that...it's a lot more powerful than a regular sword."

"Okay! Bring. It. On." Leo growled, but his face had paled slightly at Nico's comment.

I raised my sword and we were off in full battle mode. Leo had experience from his quests, I had experience from life.

Leo swung his hammer, aiming to knock my sword out of my hands. My sword, however, didn't want to give in that quickly. I quickly stepped back with excellent footwork; I'd been in fights since the age of ten, mostly with monsters, so I knew how to fight. With a flick of my wrist, I disarmed Leo and the hammer clattered to the floor. Shocked, Leo stumbled back. Before he could regain his balance I grabbed his shoulder and kicked his foot from underneath him. Smirking down at a disgruntled Leo I announced, "I win."

Leo grinned in good nature. "You won this time." I helped him up, and then Nico came strolling down to the arena from his place in the stands.

"You fight well," he complimented me. "How about a duel between siblings?" There was a glint in his black eyes. I realized that we looked a lot alike; we had the same eye and hair color, the same pale skin and we both dressed relatively the same, but at the same time we looked completely different.

"What are the rules?" I asked, sinking into a ready fighting stance.

Nico turned to Chiron. "Can we use _our_ skills?" he asked.

Chiron looked a little confused and then he realized that Nico meant our power over darkness and the dead. "I suppose it will be good for you...everyone, stand back!" The other campers melted to the sides of the arena and into the stands, I saw Leo pull out a bag of popcorn from his belt. Classic.

"What can you do?" Nico asked.

"I can manipulate and move faster in the shadows," I said.

"Can you raise the dead?"

"Like necromancy?"

"Yeah."

"I don't know; I've never tried."

"Okay...I suppose I'll try to teach you that when there aren't any people around," he grinned. Yes, Nico had been shunned at camp the same way I had, it made me feel so much better to see him so at ease in my company, and I felt the same.

"Can we start now?" I asked impatiently.

"Fine, go!"

Shadows immediately started to grow and twist toward us like black liquid. Once I was submerged in the shadows that I had called towards me, I felt stronger, safer. Nico seemed the same. Now it was a test on skill. There was a spark as our Stygian Iron swords clashed together, our black eyes met and tried to out glare each other. Neither one of us flinched.

Meanwhile the bystanders were cowering in their seats as, unknown to the children of Hades; a cold breeze had come with the growing shadows. Every clash of sword was dripping with the sound of death...if death had a sound. Outside of the shadows, it was deathly quiet with only the sound of clanging swords. People dared not breathe!

Other than Leo that is. He sat there casually eating his popcorn and laughing. After a while Percy joined in, stealing some of Leo's popcorn.

After what seemed like an eternity but was actually only a quarter of an hour, Nico found a weakness in my defense and used it. Within that split second I was on the floor with Nico pointing his sword down at me.

"You do fight well," he told me, offering me a hand to help me up.

"Thanks, you too."

"I've had a little more practice than you. You should come to the underworld with me some time, meet dad."

"That'd be fun...I think."

"Good." With that, Nico walked out of the arena.

"Well done there, Lays!" Leo congratulated me. "You had the whole camp terrified!"

"Great," I moaned.

"Don't worry," Percy said, "They get scared of anything, but you have friends who aren't scared of you, and that's all that really matters."

"Thanks Percy," I smiled gratefully.

"Come on guys, I'm starving!" Leo announced, grabbing me by the wrist and dragged me to the dining pavilion.

I sat down next to Nico, happy to not be alone. "How come you don't normally stay here?" I asked him.

"It just reminds me of Bianca..." he admitted, "then it reminds me that I don't have anyone that really cares about me."

"But you have Percy and Leo and Annabeth. They're your friends," I reasoned. The fact that _I _of all people was saying this surprised me.

Nico smiled awkwardly. "They still feel uncomfortable around me. I'm glad you've made friends with Leo. He's a really easy-going guy."

"Since I'm here now, will you stay?" I felt mean asking him that. If this place reminded him of his dead sister, he shouldn't have to stay on my account, but at the same time I now had a sort of family and I didn't want to lose that.

"Yeah, I might as well," he smiled. "I can't go abandoning my sister when you so clearly have a lot to be taught."

"Hey," I said, pretending to be insulted.

"Don't try to deny it," he joked.

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**If you're reading this that means you're a wonderful person. I'll try to upload every week for you guys (I know there aren't many of you) Reviews make me happy and I'll make sure to respond to each and every one of them :)**

**Sarah-Supernatural14: Glad you liked it, they might go on a quest but I'm not sure of the full plot line yet, we'll see what happens :) And I sometimes get confused by different writing styles too! I suppose this isn't entirely my own writing style since my Beta has tweaked it but maybe if you keep reading you'll get used to it xD**

**yeah... please review? thanks. xoxo.**


	3. more than friends

**Hello those few who take the time out of their day to read my ****_wonderful_**** fics ;) **

**I'm here with chapter 3, hope you enjoy!  
and thank you (as always) to my awesomesauce Beta: fantasy137!**

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Chapter 3: More Than Friends

Nico and I spent the rest of the day in our cabin, just talking. We learnt a lot about each other and our pasts and became incredibly close after just one short day. Now, I truly felt like I was part of a family; Nico really was a big brother to me, but it wasn't just that. Nico was now one of my best friends. For a girl who had never even had a real _friend_ having multiple _best_ friends came as something of a shock.

Finally giving in to our hunger, we made our way to the dining pavilion. Though everyone stared at us as we entered, it didn't have the same crushing feeling I had experienced the night before. Now I had Nico. We sat down and tucked into our meals, ignoring the stares and just eating in a comfortable silence.

Again, half way through the meal, Leo bounded over. Gods that boy ate fast. He looked very put off by something and was staring over at the Aphrodite table. There,Piper sat, being fed by a tall muscular blonde. He wore a purple t-shirt and scruffy jeans, his hair was disheveled and his clothes were crumpled. I chose not to think about how that happened.

"Hey," Leo said to me and Nico, a hint of annoyance in his usually upbeat voice.

"Are you jealous, Valdez?" I smiled.

"No," he said, unconvincingly. I raised my eyebrows. "Yes," he sighed.

"Aw, you like Piper?" Nico asked, his face uncharacteristically lighting up at the opportunity to tease him.

Leo blushed. "You know, Nico, I liked you better when you were shy and quiet." I slapped him on the arm.

"Don't insult my brother," I scolded him.

"Sorry," Leo muttered. Nico grinned.

"I thought you were best friends with Jason?" Nico asked.

"Well yeah...but you see..." Leo began, slumping down on the bench next to me, "Piper has this memory that her first kiss with Jason was on the roof of our old Wilderness school but...it was really me. I got those memories back when Jason got all of his memories back but Piper doesn't seem to remember...and if she does she hasn't said anything." Leo hung his head.

"Aw, that's so sweet!" I gushed then I turned serious and asked, "Who was it that took their memories?"

"Hera," Annabeth said from behind me, making me and Leo jump slightly. "That self-centered cow-loving goddess just does as she wants no matter what the consequences."

Nico cleared his throat, "Um, Annabeth...if it wasn't for Hera, we'd probably be dead." Annabeth glared at him but wasn't about to argue, Nico knew plenty about death.

"I'm sure her memories will come back soon," I assured Leo.

"But then what? What about Jason?" he asked. I hadn't thought about Jason…how was I supposed to react in this situation? I was still fairly new to this whole 'friendship' thing.

"He lives at a different camp, I'm sure everything will work out..."

"You're saying you think I should let Piper cheat on Jason with me?"

"No!" I exclaimed. "I'm saying that I'm sure if Piper figures outthat she has feelings for you, she'll have a hard time with a long distance relationship and then break it off."

"I don't want to put Piper through that," Leo mumbled.

"Well Leo, you came to the wrong person for this sort of advice. You want survival tips? Done. You're being chased by a Cyclops? I can help. Relationship trouble? Sorry...not exactly my forte," I told him.

"Yeah, yeah, I know," he said, "it's just that I have about as much experience as you do."

"No, you have more since you kissed Piper on that roof," I countered.

"She doesn't even remember it though!"

"It still counts," I insisted.

Then, Jason and Piper rose from their table and made their way over to ours. Jason's eyes met mine, electric blue to Tartarus black. In his eyes, I saw his life story. I saw all the joy and pain and heart-break he'd gone through. I also saw what could be his future...with me. I saw _us_ picnicking under the Great Pine Tree and him feeding_me_ my food and then it turning into a tickle war. A warm fuzzy feeling rose in my chest. What was that? This was new! Was it...was it _love_?

Then I remembered that he _had_ a girlfriend. A very pretty girlfriend. This went and proved that I definitely wasn't his type. He liked pretty big eyes and soft brown hair and a pretty smile and beautifully tanned skin. I had jet black eyes without depth and stringy black hair that covered my pale face. I wasn't good enough for him and I never would be.

"Hey guys," Jason smiled. I could have sworn my heart stopped beating as he smiled the cutest smile to ever be smiled.

"Hey," Leo, Nico, Annabeth and I replied.

His gorgeous blue eyes turned to me; they sparkled like sapphires in the sunlight. Wait he was talking to me!

"Sorry?" I asked, praying to the gods that I wasn't blushing.

He chuckled. "I said, I don't think we've met," he repeated, offering me his hand.

I stared at it. I couldn't very well accept his hand; I was sweating so much I could almost feel it rolling off of my palm. He would think I'm some really gross freak and then he wouldn't even want to be my friend. But then if I didn't shake his hand he'd still think I was a freak, as in a horrible person.

I smiled in what I hoped was a cute way but it probably looked like a grimace. "Hi, I'm Layla Harris." Wiping my hand discreetly (I hoped) on my jeans, I shook his hand.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Jason Grace." He shook my hand and smiled. I stared at him expecting his face to crumple up in disgust as he felt how sweaty I was, but if he was disgusted, he hid it well.

We lapsed into an awkward silence. It was the most dramatic experience of my life. Leo was staring at Piper, both me and Piper were staring at Jason, and Jason was staring questioningly at Leo. Meanwhile, Nico and Annabeth sort of looked around awkwardly. Percy came over and put an arm around Annabeth, easing some of the tension. "Jason, Chiron told me to tell you that Reyna is here with the chariot," he informed.

Jason looked uncomfortable at the mention of Reyna...wonder what that was about...

"Okay." He shrugged, kissed Piper and then left to go back to Camp Jupiter.

Once Jason was out of sight, I sighed in relief. Then I noticed a mischievous and determined glint in Leo's eyes; I was really proud of how well I was able to read him after knowing him for little over two days. I tried to pull him away before he could cause trouble but before I could think of how to get him away he said the stupidest thing imaginable.

"So what's with Jace and Reyna?" Well done Leo, mate, way to keep your cover.

Piper's eyes flashed, and then she smiled, "What do you mean?" There was an undercurrent of anger in her voice.

"Well he sort of started acting funny when Percy mentioned her name," Leo elaborated.

"It's nothing, forget about it," she snapped. For a moment I forgot what we were talking about. Then I remembered that Piper could charmspeak. Leo had told me that at some point.

Looking around I could see the others had a glazed expression like they'd forgotten what happened in the past five minutes. Piper looked a little guilty and was staring at the floor and Nico was looking around like me. Maybe children of Hades didn't give in to charmspeak so easily.

"Guys?" I tried to get everyone to snap out of it. Leo's head snapped up, the glazed expression leaving his face.

"What were we talkin' 'bout?" he asked.

That could have been my chance to save Piper from the awkward situation and then we could all go to our cabins, but no, I had to go and try to sabotage their relationship because I'm a selfish brat.

"Jason and Reyna," I said making the two names sound as scandalous as possible.

"Oh yeah, what's that about?" Leo asked.

Piper looked uncomfortable again and then she sighed. "I...I think there _might_ be something between them. I asked him how things were at his camp and he totally avoided the question then just kissed me and he did the same again when I asked him how he felt about our long distance relationship."

"Aw, Pipes, I'm sorry," Annabeth said.

"It's probably nothing." She sounded like she was trying to convince herself more than us.

At this moment I had another chance to stop the conversation and go to bed but I was a child of the underworld. I was selfish and I wanted Piper and Jason to split up. "Or it _could_ be something, Piper; you don't know what he could be doing!" Something in my gut told me that Jason wasn't the kind of guy to cheat, Piper probably_ was_blowing things way out of proportion but I wanted Jason for myself. I tried to reason that it was for Leo's sake but who was I kidding?

"No, Piper," Annabeth butted in - I liked her but she was becoming really annoying - "I think you're just being paranoid, it's normal in long distance relationships. You should IM him and just try to talk things out, get everything out in the open."

"Thanks, Annabeth, you're probably right…like _always_."

With that, we all went our separate ways. Nico kept sending me strange sideways glances as we walked back to our cabin. "What?" I asked.

"You like Jason," he stated. Frantically, I looked around, luckily we were alone.

"Maybe," I admitted, squirming under his knowing gaze, "how'd you guess?"

"Sister dear, I can read the emotions of my siblings like I know my own mind...as much as I hate to admit it, we're all the same."

"What do you mean?"

"Pessimistic, sarcastic, introverted, selfish little brats."

I wanted to be insulted but I had to admit, I described myself as that on a daily basis. "True."

"Don't go causing trouble," he pleaded.

"I don't think I'll have to, Leo's there for that," I smiled.

Nico rolled his eyes, "Don't go holding grudges either."

Then it was my turn to roll my eyes.

The Hades cabin looked incredibly eerie at night. Greek fire burned on torches that hung around the room; the green light from the flame cast ghostly reflections on the polished black marble floor. Despite this, I felt more at home than I ever had in any of my past locations. Maybe it was because I had Nico, my brother, with me. Then again, I had felt the same way the night before when Nico hadn't been there...maybe it was simply because I felt at home in darkness and no place held that feeling like Cabin 13.

"Since we know you have Umbrakinesis, tomorrow we'll see what other powers you have...maybe you can curse people," Nico said as he emerged from the bathroom wearing a skull and cross bones T-shirt and baggy trousers.

"What's Umbrakinesis?" I asked, taking my time to pronounce the word properly.

"The power to manipulate and generate darkness."

"Oh, right... yeah... I can definitely do that."

"We should go to the Underworld, you'll be able to figure out your talents better there... and you don't want to find out you can curse someone by cursing one of these guys, you'll get kicked out of camp."

"Right. That's a nice thought to have in my head as I go to sleep," I mumbled as I slumped down into the impossibly comfortable bed.

"Sorry," he apologized, "good night."

"Night."

I drifted to sleep peacefully, feeling safe and protected in the darkness of the cabin. My last thought was a prayer to the gods that I could have a dreamless sleep.

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**Please, since you're reading this you must at least sort of like this fic... right? so a review, just a smiley face, would be the best thing ever! this has been the slowest fic to take off properly and get reviews so what am I doing wrong? criticism is welcomed as much as compliments**

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	4. The darkness within me

**Sorry about the wait, not that I was letting that many of you down :/ seriously guys, a little review will make me very happy and you will gain a new best friend by reviewing my work more than once (just sayin')**

**so yeah, I've got a little character development in this chapter, hope you like it :)**

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Chapter 4: The Darkness Within Me

"Wake up, Layla," Nico's worried voice pierced through my dream. Covered in cold sweat, I bolted upright and looked around the room. Even after a short two days I saw this dark and, quite honestly, creepy room as more of a home than any of my previous dwellings. Yet in this moment I was filled with a feeling of pure terror.

"What were you dreaming? You were lashing and flailing around so much," Nico asked, looking at me with concern.

Thinking back, all I could remember was fear... I couldn't remember what was happening. "I... don't remember," I admitted.

"You don't remember anything?"

"I remember being afraid," I told him. Nodding his head, he offered me a hand to help me up, and then picked up his sword.

"We're going down to the Underworld today, if my memory serves me correctly," he said.

"Yeah..." I replied uncertainly. "What about Chiron, will he let us go?"

"Layla, we're children of Hades! I, to be honest, don't think that old centaur even likes us here at camp... we're too powerful."

"But so are Jason and Percy," I reasoned, "he's fine with them."

"We have darker powers, Lays."

I scowled, "I need a new nickname..."

"How about La-la?" Nico chuckled.

"How about no," I grumbled, stumbling to the bathroom to get ready.

Nico had told me that I should wear all black in the underworld, no camp T-shirt, because that way it would be easier to blend in with the shadows, should something dangerous come our way. It also, apparently, made it a little easier to shadow travel.

And so, dressed in my signature skinny jeans, boots, black T-shirt and leather jacket, and armed with my Stygian iron sword, I left Cabin 13. Much like Nico's, my sword was short and black as a nightmare. This suited me just fine.

"We _are _getting breakfast, right?" I asked as Nico and I left our cabin. Throughout my childhood I had learnt that you should eat when you have the chance because you never know if there will still be food next time.

"Sure, we might as well... just try not to look suspicious," he warned.

"Right, I'm a pro at acting natural," I grinned.

"Hey, it's the Ghost Prince and Princess," Leo joked, strolling towards us from Cabin 9. "Shouldn't you two stay outta the sun?"

"Shut up Valdez," I retorted in a mock threatening voice, edging my hand toward my sword. I grinned when his eyes widened as he noticed the gesture.

We walked in a comfortable silence to the dining pavilion where we went our separate ways. Leo to the Hephaestus table, Nico and I to the Hades table.

"Do you think that...that Dad will be okay with us just... going down there?" I asked Nico uncertainly. Saying 'dad' whilst talking about the god of the Underworld seemed strange.

Nico looked up from the toast that he was playing with more than eating. "Yeah... I mean I used to go down there all the time and he didn't mind."

"Are you sure?" I asked. He nodded his head though he didn't really look 100%.

"Hey guys, have you heard the news?" Leo asked, making me jump as he popped up behind me.

"What?" Nico asked.

"Pipes followed Annabeth's advice and IM'd Jason last night, demanding he tell her everything that's been going on. And they broke up!" I silently celebrated, and Leo sounded like he was just as happy. However, my happiness was short-lived when he added, "Yeah, Jason admitted that there was something going on with him and Reyna and that he was sorry he kept their relationship going for as long as he did." Why was he still grinning?

"Oh," I said, feeling a little dumbstruck, "so Jason's with this Reyna girl now?"

"Yeah... I can't believe we used to be friends. I mean, just look at what he did to Piper!" Leo said, shaking his head sadly.

"I know... it's terrible..." I mumbled, but everything was starting to seem farther and farther away, even my own voice seemed muffled. How could I have been stupid enough to fall for a guy like _that_? Of course it wasn't just that, I'm not the kind of girl to just lose it over a guy. Heck, up until now, I'd been too busy running away and fighting monsters to even think about that sort of thing. But this was just the feather that made my already unbalanced scale crash through the ground. Every negative emotion imaginable was bubbling inside of me. Who was this Reyna girl who had stolen Jason from me?

Then I broke.

"Hey... Lays... you okay?" Leo asked with concern. I didn't know anymore. I didn't know where I was or who I was. The world was spinning. Then I was a little six-year-old girl, clueless of what true pain was.

Mom was drunk. Again. She was on one of her rants. That was normal. I sat under the table, the only place I knew to be safe, and watched with mild amusement as she wrecked the picture frames that had survived her last tantrum. My amusement vanished, however, as her wrath turned to me.

I knew my mom loved me. In the few moments she wasn't drunk she had told me that. She looked after me, she fed me and I was relatively happy. Sometimes.

Not now. Now mom was grabbing my hair and pulling my small body from under the table and out onto the street.

"I've had enough of you," she growled. She had dyed her hair purple and it twisted down her back like an angry snake as she roughly pulled me through the deserted street by the light of the street lamps.

"What have I done, mommy?" I pleaded with her so she would tell me. I always hated it when she got angry at me, I just wanted to make her happy so that she would cuddle me and we could sit down and watch a film together like we did sometimes... when she wasn't drunk.

"Too much, you little brat, all of this is your fault!" she spat. I felt tears pricking at my eyes as we arrived at a big rundown house.

"What's my fault, mommy? I don't understand," my voice was thick with tears.

She ignored me and hammered her fist on a door with white peeling paint until an annoyed looking lady answered it.

"Can I help you?" she asked, her voice was strict and cold.

"This is my daughter." She said the word 'daughter' as if she was describing some dirt she found on her shoe. "Her name is Layla Harris, take her," she shoved me into the woman's arms, "I don't want her anymore."

"What do you mean, mommy?" I asked, staring up at her, "I love you mommy."

She stared down at me coldly, "If I ever see you again it'll be too soon, you little shit."

With that, she was gone. I had never seen her again.

One day, when I was around ten, when I had started carrying a dagger - this gave me power and safety out on the streets and in the various foster homes - I went looking for her, and I did find her... well... I found her grave. She had died of an overdose shortly after the time she had given me to that first foster home. Since then I'd run off and got pulled back into five other homes, each worse than the last.

I didn't know why I was running, or what I was looking for as I ran. I just knew I had to run away, like I could run away from the memories, like I could run away from my life and somehow wake up in a warm and comfortable bed with my mom reading me a bed time story. But I knew that would never happen.

By the age of ten most kids had started school and made friends. Not me. I had never even had much of a childhood; I never went to school or made friends. I made enemies, with the monsters. With my dagger, I would avoid them on most nights, then I'd get caught by social services and my ongoing war with the monsters would stop for a while.

"Layla?" I heard Leo's panicked voice through the haziness of my mind. "Layla!"

Where was I? How did I get to be lying down? I sat bolt upright. I was in my bed, Greek fire illuminated Leo and Nico's worried faces.

"What happened?" I asked.

"You sort of just... passed out..." Leo told me, he sounded really confused and worried, Nico looked even more so, like something like this had happened before but didn't end well.

"Ugh," I rubbed my head. "I-I've got a lot on my mind." Giving Jason and Piper as an excuse would be the easiest thing to do, but it would make me look weak. Luckily they didn't ask for an explanation. "How long was I out?"

"About half an hour," Nico told me. "You scared us both, but I knew you were still healthy and alive." Of course, children of Hades could sense life auras and could tell when someone they knew had died. I think that's what led me to try and find my mom when I was ten. "I suppose the Underworld can wait."

"You were going to go to the Underworld," Leo gasped, as if he was bothered about the rules. Then he added in a fake hurt voice, "Without me!"

"It's not a place you'd find it easy to survive in, Leo," Nico sighed. "Fire and mechanics won't do you much good there."

"I know, dude, I was kidding. Besides, I've seen enough of that place to last me a lifetime," Leo smiled. His comment made me wonder what had taken him to the Underworld, but I decided that was a question for another time.

"I still want to go," I insisted, standing up a little too fast. I wobbled and then got pushed back down by Nico and Leo.

"When you feel better," Nico promised. I felt like a little girl being told to wait until later to eat the chocolate which of course reminded me that I never had that as a child. A tear rolled down my cheek, I tried to discreetly wipe it away but, too late; Leo realized and called me out on it.

"What's up?" he asked.

"Not down," I smiled despite the build up of tears at the back of my throat.

Leo chuckled but turned serious again, noticing the usually well-hidden pain in my eyes. "Don't be silly, I thought we were best friends," he pouted.

I sighed, "We've known each other for two days."

"And we're already this close," he smiled and crossed his fingers to show how close we were. "You can tell me anything, Layla." His use of my actual name told me that he _was _being serious.

I looked at Nico, half expecting him to frown at me for showing weakness, just like my reflection did. "You can trust me Layla, tell me anything," he assured me.

"It's just... everything, my whole life... and then that at breakfast was just the last straw," I babbled, Leo looked completely lost but I'd already told Nico about my past and he knew about my feelings for Jason.

"Hey, I know," he reassured me, patting me on the back. "I know." I got the feeling he was going to say 'it's all going to be alright,' but he stopped himself, knowing that he couldn't take those memories away from me. "It'll get better with time," he said instead.

"Hey...can you fill me in?" Leo asked sheepishly.

I hesitated, before thinking that I might as well tell him, "I'll give you the short version."

He held his hands up in surrender, "That's all I ask, Lays."

"Okay..." I took a deep breath, "when I was six, my mom -who was alcoholic- gave me to a foster home. When I was ten I'd been in five different foster homes, I carried a knife to protect me from the monsters and that's when I found out my mom was dead. I spent my life in and out of foster homes and living on the street until I came here."

Leo looked like he'd never been more understood in his life, it was the. *I think you forgot to finish the sentence…you can decide what to do with it now* I realized that I didn't know his story; I knew his abilities but not his past. "I was a lot like you growing up," he whispered.

"You were?" I knew everyone here had a rough childhood but I didn't think any would be like mine.

"Of course... it started out better, I had a childhood, my mom loved me... but she died in a fire that I started... I know it was because of Gaea but I still started it. I went into foster homes but I hated them. I always ran away, never staying in one place for more than a week. Then I went to the Wilderness School and you know my story from then on."

We looked at each other like we'd found the person we'd unknowingly been searching for our whole lives. It was like Leo had been the person I'd been running to, I just hadn't known it. Then Nico coughed awkwardly and I snapped out of it, Leo was my best friend... how had I just been thinking of him like he was my _soul mate_? That's stupid, soul mates didn't exist. Anyway, Leo liked Piper. That Piper was always in the way. I shuddered at the obscure thoughts that had just popped into my head and the sudden grudge I seemed to be holding towards her.

"So are we going to the Underworld?" Nico asked in an attempt to break the awkward silence.

"Sure, I feel better now," I answered, "How are we getting there?"

"Shadow travel of course," Nico smiled.

"Of course," I sighed.

It was Leo's turn to be awkward now, "Well... I suppose I'll go and see how Piper is."

I winked at him, "Have fun."

He walked off, blushing.

"Well that was awkward," Nico muttered.

"It wasn't that bad."

Nico laughed, "I sort of got the impression that you like Leo now." It amazed me how easily we laughed and joked around with each other considering we were two of the biggest introverts to ever walk the planet.

"I do not!" I insisted, "Leo is like my best friend, I could never like him _that _way!"

"Whatever... how do you feel about Jason now?"

"I can't believe that I was crushing on a jerk like that... But it can't be his fault that this Reyna girl probably bewitched him with some voodoo Roman magic making him fall in love with her.

"Hey, it's not your fault, you can't choose who you like. And Reyna isn't too bad." Once he'd said that I knew he was right (Well at least for the first part). _None _of this was _my _fault. None of it! But he was wrong about Reyna and I was suddenly overwhelmed by how much I hated the girl I'd never met, like everything that had gone wrong in my life was because of her. And Piper! I took a deep breath and tried to change the subject before I ended up impaling Nico with my sword just so I could take my anger out on _someone_.

"Who do you like?"

He blushed, "I don't like anyone."

"Then why are you blushing?" I asked with an evil grin, happy with the subject change.

His jaw clenched, "Shut up, Harris, we're going to the Underworld."

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**I can't say I'm not disappointed with how little the amount of reviews are for this story but I'm grateful to everyone who's reading this and I'm having fun writing it and that's what's important when push comes to shove. I'd once again like to thank my beta fantasy137 you're the best xoxo**

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	5. Big Plans

**Hello again my lovelies! What is this? I hear you ask. thetigerlilly is UPDATING!? ikr, well I had mock exams but they're over now so that means MORE UPDATES YAAAAY **

**as always a big thank you to my beta fantasy137, this story would have crashed and burned without you :)**

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Chapter 5: Big Plans

Shadow travel wasn't fun. Nico told me that I had to focus on the darkness (that was the easy part) and then I had to concentrate on getting to the Underworld. The hard and very not-fun part was the feeling of shadow traveling. It felt like ice-cold hands were taking hold of my very soul and twisting it. A chill ran over my entire body and then I blacked out.

"Not bad for a first try," Nico smiled down at me. I was sprawled out on the cold stone floor next to a black river and my head hurt like hell.

"Where are we?" I asked, looking around feeling more disoriented than ever before.

"The Underworld," said Nico, sounding really pleased. He gestured to the river, "This here is the River Styx." I gaped at the river for a while until I was interrupted by a whiney-growling-bark-ish-thing. "And that would be Cerberus," Nico told me.

"Uh... Is he safe?" I asked nervously.

"Yeah, Ceb wouldn't hurt us; he's just a big sweetheart really."

The huge three-headed dog bounded over to us, heads looking around excitedly. The middle head dipped down and spat out a giant, slobber covered, red rubber ball, then stared at me expectantly.

"We can't play fetch right now, Ceb," Nico sighed, "We've got to talk to Dad."

Cerberus whined.

"Aw, c'mon Nico," I said, "Just one short game of fetch?"

"Trust me, there's no such thing as a short game of fetch with Cerberus."

Reluctantly, we left a disheartened Cerberus at the gates of the Underworld and strolled through the fields of Asphodel and into the palace of the Underworld as if it was no big deal.

"Nico, I see you've followed orders well. It's good to finally meet you Layla," a deep gravelly voice greeted us. Certainly not a voice I ever associated with the term 'father'.

"Father," Nico said, bowing low.

"Um." I hung back in the huge doorway to what I took to be the throne room. Nico looked at me with an urgent look as if he was a soldier warning a civilian to run before they massacred the place. But I didn't want to bow down. I didn't feel any respect for this man; what I did feel was an immense hatred. It was his fault my mom had been the way she was and it was his fault that she killed herself. It was his fault that I grew up in lonely foster homes and on the streets fighting monsters. And now he treats us like his own personal solders, like pawns on a chess board, praising Nico for 'following orders well'. What is that supposed to mean?

But then I looked at Nico's face. I could see in his eyes that he didn't hold much respect for the god in front of him but, like me, he had never had a father (not a real one) and so he was clinging to what little shred of family he had left. It made me realize that I would end up doing the same sooner or later no matter how much I hated it.

With a sigh, I bowed and said, "Father." It wasn't much of a bow and more of an inclination of the head as I didn't feel up to all out curtsying to the guy.

"It's good to finally have you two here together. I have big plans for you both."

"What do you mean 'Big Plans'?" I asked.

"Patience, Layla. We've only just met and I'm sure you have some things you'd like to get off your chest."

I looked at him in bewildered silence. "What?"

"Go ahead, shout and scream, destroy the decor. I can feel that you're angry. Might as well get it out now, hmm?"

And then, I burst. "Damn right I'm angry you son of a bitch!" I yelled, "You let my mom die after years, YEARS, of letting her suffer with drugs and alcohol and me... not once did you send help!" I stopped to catch my breath and I noticed that he was seated on his throne of skulls, wrapped in his cloak of lost souls, watching me intently like I was telling him how to end world hunger and cure cancer at the same time. Meanwhile Nico was watching me as if he was a deer caught in the headlights. I took a deep breath and continued, "Then after she KILLED HERSELF, you left me to live in the SEWERS fighting freaking MONSTERS! I WAS TEN YEARS OLD!" He flinched and sank back as I let all my bottled up anger flow out of me, "And now you bring me here and suddenly 'claim' me as if it's going to fix all my god damn problems, then you act all happy to see me. I know that's a load of bull, you just want to make me think I'm more than just a pawn to you so that you can use me in your _big plans_. What makes you think that I'm gonna do something for you when you left me alone for twelve years with no help?"

"I'm sorry that you feel this way," he said calmly. His impassiveness made me even angrier. In a violent rage I ran around the throne room screaming bloody murder and wrecking anything in my path until I felt a hand rest on my shoulder. I spun round to confront the stupid ass twat that thought it was a clever idea to stop me during this rage only to see Nico staring at me with pleading eyes.

"Calm down, Layla."

Having Nico snap me out of it just made me angry at myself, and so naturally I took it out on him, "How dare you tell me to calm down! Side with me you spineless idiot or are you just going to play the 'good little soldier' because _Daddy _asked you for help in his game of chess where we're just _pawns_?!" He looked back at me like a scolded puppy but didn't say anything.

"Are you done now?" Hades asked, still calmly watching us from his throne as if we were just the evening entertainment. I wanted to be mad at him, I really did, but my need for a family was stronger and so I followed in my big brothers footsteps and played the 'good little soldier'. After all, he was the only dad I'd ever have.

"I suppose I'm done, yeah," I sighed.

"Good. So here's the plan..."

* * *

"Hey Pipes?" Leo knocked softly on the door of the Aphrodite cabin. Drew appeared at the door with her ever-present bitchy sneer plastered onto her face.

"You sure it's Piper you want Repair Boy?"

"Pretty sure... yeah," Leo replied curtly.

Drew's smirk widened, "Well she isn't here."

"Do you know where she is then?" Leo asked impatiently.

"No."

Leo shrugged and turned to leave.

"Try the Big House," Drew called.

"Thanks," Leo called back insincerely.

He walked up towards the Big House, trying desperately to not burst into flames. He had never felt more nervous since Festus' life was hanging in the balance and his best friends lives' had been resting in his hands. His dreams of Wilderness Survival School before Jason were getting even more vivid and he _needed _to tell Piper and find out if she was having them too. But then, he wasn't sure if it would make a difference. Then there was that little connection he'd made with Layla; when she'd told her life story about how she's always been running, always escaping foster homes and making her own way, he'd felt a connection with her that went deeper than friendship, but he wasn't sure what it was exactly or how she felt. Why were girls so hard to understand?

What he saw next made him want to throw up.

Jason seemed to be visiting camp and to skip the gory details let's just say... Piper and Jason had clearly made up. That would explain why Drew had been more smug-looking than usual.

* * *

Nico sat on the bank of the river Styx throwing the giant rubber ball for Cerberus. "I told you there was no such thing as a short game of fetch with Ceb," he laughed, breaking the awkward silence that had formed after Hades had explained everything to the two of us.

I chuckled unenthusiastically. What my Dad had asked me to do was highly risky and made me the clear antagonist of this story. But then on the other hand, if I did what my dad wanted, it didn't really matter how much wrong I did in life because I was going to end up in Elysium in the end anyways. And then there was the small detail of my mother. He had told me that if I went through with this, he'd bring back my mom. Even after the drugs and the alcohol and the abuse she put me through as a kid, she was my mom and I loved her no matter what. I felt that if I could bring her back, maybe we could finally be a normal family... sort of. He'd also told Nico that if he played his part he'd bring back his mom and Bianca (I don't know how he was going to do that since she chose to be reborn... but there you go). This explained why he had been playing 'good little soldier' before.

"Are you okay?" Nico asked, turning his attention away from Cerberus momentarily.

"I'm fine."

"Nobody's forcing you to do anything here; you can do the right thing."

"No I can't."

"Why's that?"

"You know why, I need to bring my mom back. She died before her time and it was mostly my fault. And then it's not like _Dad _is going to give me the choice... How am I going to keep this _power _in check without his help anyway?"

"We'd find a way, Layla. Don't feel pressured into anything."

I didn't reply to him, I knew he wasn't going to shut up about it if I said anything to keep the conversation moving. I also knew that if I didn't go through with Hades' plans for me, I'd regret it.

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***creepy weirdo voice*And the plot thickens!**

**hope you enjoyed this chapter! if you did leave a review... If you didn't review anyway xD **

**nicolover: thanks for the reviews! It makes me smile when I see reviews because it means someone somewhere actually likes my work :)**

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**love you guys, have a nice day xx**


	6. Orders from Olympus

**Well hello again my wonderful readers! put your feet up, have a biscuit and enjoy the chapter!**

**As always, a massive thank you to fantasy137 my AMAZING Beta who I'd be getting nowhere with this fic without :)**

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Chapter 6: Orders from Olympus

Zeus paced the marble floor of the throne room in one of his agitated rages. He knew that his brother, Hades, was planning something against him as he had spoken directly to his twodemigod children. Though he didn't know what Hades was planning, he knew that it would be bad (this was Hades after all).

"What do you want dad?" asked Thalia as she and her brother, Jason, entered the room. Zeus' eyes glinted dangerously for a moment, before returning to normal.

"I was expecting a bit more respect, considering I am King of the Gods as well as your father," he said icily. Thalia shrugged, not making any move towards an apology. "I have a task for the two of you," Zeus informed them, giving up on trying to gain an apology from his daughter. Thalia shifted her weight, not wanting to participate in her father's plans, but she remained silent. "Hades is plotting against me!" Zeus continued.

Jason's eyes sparked with interest, "How so, father?" Thalia gave him a 'way to suck up' look.

"I don't know yet," admitted Zeus.

Thalia frowned. "Then, how exactly did you come up with the idea that he's plotting against you?"

"He has spoken directly with two of his demigod children!"

Thalia rolled her eyes, "Isn't that exactly what you're doing right now?"

"Don't you dare _sass me _child!" Zeus thundered. Thalia held her hands up in fake surrender while Jason watched in mild horror. He didn't like seeing his sister showing such disrespect to their father, but he didn't do anything.

"I want you two to go to Camp Half-Blood and get close to Layla Harris and her brother Nico di Angelo so they'll tell you their father's plan for them. Once you find out, I want you to report back to me."

It was then Jason's turn to become unsure about Zeus' plans, "What do you mean by... _close_... father?"

"As close as it takes."

"I don't think so!" Thalia exclaimed, "I'm with the Hunters, I'll be letting down Artemis just by going to Camp Half-Blood, and now you want me to betray the Hunters altogether? No. I won't do it. No way."

Zeus took a deep breath and looked down at his daughter, "You WILL do _whatever _it takes to find out Hades' plans. Is that clear?"

Jason took a cautious step forward, being careful to fill each action with the utmost of respect and sincerity. "Father," he began softly, "With all due respect...Thalia can't betray the Hunters and I - I have a girlfriend so...um...we can _try _but we can't go _that _far."

"If you have to go that far you _will _go that far," Zeus commanded his voice cold as ice.

There was a sudden flash of light and a twelve-year-old girl with a bow over her shoulder stood in the room. "What's going on?" she asked. For someone who looked so young, her voice was stern and commanded respect.

"My Lady!" Thalia greeted, bowing down low.

"Arise, my sister," the girl smiled. "And please explain what our pathetically thick-headed father is stirring a storm over this time."

"That's none of your business Artemis!" Zeus bellowed.

Artemis smiled angelically, as only a twelve-year-old could. "As it concerns one of my Hunters, I am led to believe it in fact _is _my business."

"Dad here wants us to get close to a couple of Hades kids because he _thinks _Hades is plotting against him," Thalia explained. "But I told him that there was no way I would betray the Hunters." Artemis beamed at her.

"I did not give you permission to tell anyone!" Zeus fumed.

"Calm the storm, Zeus. I. Am. Not. A. Spy," Artemis said slowly, as though speaking to a little kid throwing a tantrum.

Zeus laughed a short, humorless laugh. "That is exactly what a spy would say."

Artemis just rolled her eyes at the God of the Sky and turned her attention to Thalia. "So, when you said _close _to those Hades children..."

"I meant as close as it takes," Zeus interrupted, "I'm ordering you to release her from the Hunters until this has passed over."

Artemis momentarily considered refusing Zeus' orders, and telling him that it was a stupid assumption to make in the first place. Sure, Hades probably _was _plotting against him (he always was) but this was an overreaction even on Zeus' standards. Despite knowing this, Artemis knew that her hard-headed father couldn't be talked out of this now. And so, with a shrug, she assured Thalia that she would be able to return to the Hunters at any time and that she hoped nothing bad would happen before Zeus realized he was being pathetic and let everyone get back to their normal lives or she completed the task. She had grown to admire the headstrong girl, and she was anxious to see her return to the Hunters.

* * *

"So I understand that Zeus has ordered you two to stay here at Camp Half-Blood permanently now," Chiron said to Jason and Thalia as they stood on the porch of the Big House. They nodded. "Okay then, I'll have a cleaning Harpy prepare your cabin."

"Thanks, Chiron," Thalia called over her shoulder as she and Jason walked off to find their friends.

"How are we going to go about this?" Jason asked.

"I don't know, _talk to them_," Thalia replied. She wasn't in the best of moods after being forced to leave the Hunters, and her brother's eagerness to follow the stupid orders weren't helping her mood improve.

"What do I do if I have to go to drastic measures, what do I tell Piper?"

"If you don't want to break up with Piper, _don't go to drastic measures_."

"But Dad said..."

"Look, Jason, I love you but you're giving me a migraine. _Di immortales _sort out your own problems!" Thalia exclaimed. "I'm going to find Annabeth." With that, she stormed away from a socked Jason.

"Thalia!" A flurry of wild blonde hair came barreling towards her and a second later she found herself wrapped in the familiar embrace of her best friend.

"Annabeth," she replied with a smile.

"Gods of Olympus, I've missed you!" Annabeth squealed.

"Well Jason and I are here to stay for a while," Thalia sighed.

"You don't sound too thrilled about that," Annabeth observed.

"I'm here on orders... but..."

"You can't tell," Annabeth completed her sentence for her, "That's cool; I know how the gods can get." Then, she grabbed her hand, "Come on, let's go find Percy, you can be on our chariot team!"

They found Percy in the stables, deep in conversation with a black Pegasus named Blackjack who he'd saved from a Titan warship a few years back. Since then, the Pegasus had been so grateful he'd practically adopted Percy.

"Hey Percy!" Annabeth said, catching his attention.

"What?" was his clever response. He noticed Thalia and smiled. "Pinecone Face! Whatare you doing here?"

"I'm being used by the Gods, so I'll be staying at camp for a while," Thalia replied bitterly. "And don't you dare call be that ever again, unless you want you're face rearranged.

Since Tartarus, Percy had been a kind of recluse and didn't seem as inquisitive as he had been before, so instead of asking more questions and wanting to get to the bottom of something that didn't really concern him, he just nodded his head and asked, "So you wanna be on our chariot team?"

"Sure," Thalia replied. Percy looked like he was about to say something else, but an unfamiliar voice broke in.

"I don't know Leo, I'm not good with animals..."

Leo and a black-haired girl who Thalia didn't recognize walked into the stables.

"Nonsense, Nico said you're great with hellhounds!"

"Of course I'm good with hellhounds! I'm a daughter of Hades!" _So that must be Layla Harris_, thought Thalia. "And Nico also said I'm good at necromancy but you know I was useless the day after I tried it."

"Well it does take a lot of energy," Leo said.

"Like you wouldn't believe," Layla replied with a shudder.

"Oh look, there's Percy! Dude, you'll help us get some horses right?" Leo asked, grinning widely.

"Uh... sure," Percy replied.

"I still don't get why Chiron won't let us use hellhounds... I mean not even Mrs. O'Leary!" Leo tutted.

Thalia shuddered at the thought of being in a chariot race where one of the chariots was being driven by a daughter of Hades and pulled by a hellhound. "I think Chiron has his head screwed on right," she said. Layla jumped having not seen the stranger in the room and suddenly became harder to focus on; she'd pulled the darkness around her. "I'm Thalia, Thalia Grace," Thalia said, trying to come off friendly and hoping her 'gothic' attire didn't scare her off (though considering Layla was dressed similarly that shouldn't have been a problem).

"Layla, stop hiding in the shadows, I hate when you do that!" Leo laughed, grabbing her arm and pulling her forward. Layla stopped manipulating the darkness but stayed quiet.

"So you must be Layla Harris," Thalia said, trying to break the ice.

She nodded.

Thalia shrugged deciding that trying to get into a conversation with her was going to be harder than she first thought and instead, talked to Leo, "So you're Jason's friend right? The delusional one…Leo?"

Both Layla and Leo's expressions darkened at the mention of her brother's name but Leo quickly recovered and said, "Yeah and you're Thalia, his sister. The hot one." Thalia rolled her eyes. "So, what brings the pretty girl to Camp? Had enough of that Hunter stuff and ready to get your Leo on?"

"Definitely not. I've decided to stay at camp for a while, and so has Jason."

"Oh coo- AH!" Leo jumped as someone snuck behind him. "Nico I hate it when you do that! Just walk like any normal kid!"

"I didn't know I was classified as a normal kid," Nico grinned; he'd shadow travelled to the stables. "Are you okay, Layla?" he asked his sister, grabbing her hand.

She nodded timidly but still seemed unable to speak with an almost stranger in the room.

"Aw man, did you do the freaky sense-y thingy when you can _sense _the other guys feelings, whatever that means," Leo sighed.

"It's a good thing to be able to do," Percy commented.

"Not when you get him popping up from the shadows while you're trying to handle a situation," Leo protested, though Layla looked like she couldn't be more grateful to have her brother there with her.

Nico rolled his eyes, grabbed Layla's hand and together they shadow travelled off to where ever, probably the Hades cabin.

"Well Thalia, if you change your mind, you know where to find me," Leo said and with a suggestive wink, he left the stables.

"Not likely," Thalia muttered, still annoyed by all that had taken place during the course of the say.

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**Thanks to everyone who's liked and followed this, i love you all xx**

**especially my reviewers, I love you guys the most x **

**I'm gonna put a shout out to Nightlock64 here, you won't be wasing your time if you check out that fic :)**

**iamyourbiggestfan01: You'll find out Hades' plans all in good time ;)**

**Nightlock64: d'waaa stop it, you're making me blush! I have to admit most of the humour is down to my beta and all of the acurateness (yes that's a word now) is down to a lot of interent research and being treble checked by my friends and of course my beta :) Your fics awesome too, hope you liked the chariot mention, yes I will probably include the chariot race in there :)**

**J.D: Glad you like it and thanks for the review! please keep reading :p**

**The next chapter is quite short (or at least it is now, it might change) I'll have it uploaded as soon as possible :)**


	7. Training

**Hello dear readers! This is just a short chapter, sort of a filler chapter really. The next chapter will be longer so don't be too upset :D **

**as always a massive thank you to my wonderful beta fantasy137.**

**hope you enjoy :)**

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Chapter 7: Training

"I can do this, Nico!" I insisted for the umpteenth time, "I just need more practice!"

"I know you're fully capable, Lays, but the last time you over extended yourself and passed out for twelve hours," Nico reminded me, "Leo was so worried he almost burned down our cabin!"

I chuckled at the mental image of Nico running around after Leo trying to stop him from setting the furniture on fire.

"Just one more time, I can't get better if I don't practice."

Nico hesitated, "Are you sure you even want to get better?"

His tone was conversational but his eyes were deadly serious as they shone in the light of the Greek fire that illuminated our cabin. "Of course I want to get better, what sort of question is that?!"

"Well if you can't control it then maybe dad won't make us go through with the plan..."

"What plan?" Leo asked as he casually entered the cabin, with his mouth full of burrito, as if he lived there.

"Nothing," Nico and I said in unison.

"Leo, you don't own the place, you can't just walk in unannounced!" I sighed. Goodness knows what would happen if Leo found out the plan.

Leo laughed, "Sorry to interrupt you your royal darkness. I was just checking in to get your opinion on these plans for the chariot. He pulled out an incredibly long scroll filled with complex diagrams. After looking it over for half a minute I began to get a headache and gave up.

"You know what Leo?" I said, "I'll just leave the designs and mechanical stuff to you." I handed the scroll back to him and hoped he wouldn't launch into a big lecture about how he would reinforce the wheel spokes.

"Just make sure it's not so complicated that we can't use it," Nico reminded him.

"You got it boss," Leo said with an exaggerated salute. Just then, Jason appeared at the open door and knocked lightly.

"Jason," Leo greeted him with a curt nod. "I guess I'll go start on the Chariot of Awesomeness then," he told me and then side stepped around Jason and left.

"Can we help you?" Nico asked coldly.

"I uh... Just wanted to say hi," Jason replied, shrinking under Nico's cold glare.

"Okay, hi," Nico gave a sarcastic wave, and then he smirked and said, "Bye."

Jason sighed, "Nico, why don't you like me?"

"Oh you mean other than the fact that you ignored me as I tried to tell you how to save Annabeth and Percy, and then how you had to go and be a sack of dicks, making my sister upset?" I heard him mutter under his breath. I allowed myself a small smirk as he shrugged his shoulders.

Jason became really uncomfortable and then decided it was time to go. "Well... nice talk."

I took out my sword and started absent-mindedly twirling it around while Nico grumbled out a string of profanities in Ancient Greek. "Can we go now?" I asked.

Nico reluctantly nodded his head. "Sure," he said with a sigh, "Let's go Happy Meal shopping."

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**Thanks for reading. You're a wonderful person, yes you, reading this now. I love you all! **

**Nightlock64: Thanks for reviwing (again :) ) as I said in a PM i dind't really think about how Annabeth didn't talk I suppose she just stood there having nothing to contribute? I can't take all the credit for the in-charcter-ness (that's a word now) of the characters. Come to think of it Thalia wouldn't be anywhere near as in character as she sort of is without the help of my wonderful beta.  
**

**meow: Thanks for reviewing! Yes Layla does know about Leo's flame powers, she also knows about his past. Now Layla's been at camp for a good few weeks... probably more than a month I'm not really sure but I'm sure I've said it's been a few weeks at some point, idk. It might be an OCxLeo fic, you'll have to keep reading and see ;)**

**Thanks for reading, I love you all, keep being awesome and I'll see you all next update x**


	8. Curse

**Hey guys! Sorry for the long wait.**

**thank you to fantasy137 for betaing :)**

**enjoy.**

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Chapter 8: Curse

"What's up with you today Lays?" I heard Leo ask.

Blinking hard, I looked up from my pancakes. Why did morning have to come so soon? "Sorry Leo, I didn't get much sleep last night," I apologized. "What were you saying?" That was a bad question because it triggered Leo into a detailed description of each and every contraption that would be on our chariot.

Chariots. They were the talk of the camp! Everyone was so happy that there was no imminent threat... how clueless they were. It made me uncomfortable to think that I was going to be the one to take it all away. A nauseous feeling rose in my stomach as I looked around and saw all the happy faces of my friends. They _were_ my friends. Even though I only spoke to a select few - Leo, Nico, Percy and Annabeth (the latter two only on occasion) - they were all my friends. Okay two of them weren't. Thalia and Jason; something about Thalia made me uncomfortable and it was only right to hate Jason's guts because of what he did to Piper.

"So what do you think?" Leo asked, bringing his ranting to an end and pulling me out of my reverie.

"Huh?" I asked, then I plastered a smile onto my face and with forced enthusiasm said, "It sounds great, Leo! The other teams don't stand a chance." At least something in my life was going okay.

"So how's the chariot going?" Nico asked, slumping down at the table with a cereal bar and a cup of coffee in his hand. I heard the same forced enthusiasm in his voice that I'd had in mine but luckily Leo seemed oblivious. He launched into another description of his handy work, just as animated as he'd been the first time. "Hey," he paused, "since when do you drink coffee?"

Nico took a long gulp of coffee and glared at Leo. "Since now."

"Alright, hold your hellhounds."

Nico ignored Leo and went back to drinking his coffee. I could tell that he was beginning to wonder why we were both dead on our feet, and saying we were both up late eating Happy Meals and drinking Coke wasn't a good enough excuse... to avoid unanswerable questions, I thought it would be best to change the subject. "So, any luck with Piper?"

Leo grimaced then looked longingly over to the Aphrodite table where Piper was happily eating breakfast with her siblings.

"I think she's back with Jason," Leo sighed though his tone implied that he had more than enough evidence to _know _they'd gotten back together. "Well," Leo said, working hard to sound happy, "I'm gonna go and work on the chariot; try not to drown in coffee Nico." He poked him on the arm then left before Nico could react. Following in Nico's footsteps, I asked my goblet for some extra strong coffee and then proceeded to stare absently into its murky depths.

"Hi." A deep voice pulled me out of my daydream. I looked up to find electric blue eyes staring down at me. Jason.

"Hi," I replied reluctantly.

"Do you mind?" he asked, gesturing to the seat next to me.

I internally groaned but decided to give him the benefit of the doubt (besides, he hadn't personally offended_me_). Plastering a big, fake smile onto my face I said, "Sure," in a relatively friendly tone. He sat down and turned so he was facing me. As an excuse to not look at him for a while, I took a long sip of coffee; when he still hadn't said anything I stared expectantly at him.

Over the last few weeks I had developed my daughter of Hades powers so now, among other things, not only could I sense life auras, but emotions as well. Thanks to these handy new abilities, I could sense that Jason was really nervous though he hid it well. "I... uh..." he began, clearing his throat, "I just wanted to apologize, I didn't make the best first impression and now I get the feeling that you don't like me very much."

I couldn't help but laugh, which made Jason feel uncomfortable so I explained, "I don't like anyone very much."

Jason smiled. "You like Leo and Nico though."

"That's different, they're my family... well Leo's _like _a brother to me," I explained.

"Well you're costing half the camp a lot of money in saying that," Jason laughed.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"A lot of people think you and Leo would be a great couple... of course I think you're better suited to... someone else..."

I recoiled as he started reaching for my face, "What are you doing?!"

He looked at me, confused. Then he realized what he was doing and said, "You... have some hair in your eye."

"Oh," I blushed, "thanks." I couldn't help thinking that of course there was hair in my eye, I had a _side fringe_! But I didn't want to make things more awkward than they already were.

"Jason what are you doing?" Piper asked, her voice conversational with a hint of charmspeak leaking into it. Things were getting more awkward than they were to begin with... at least it wasn't my doing.

"Talking to Layla," Jason replied, matching her conversational tone.

"Why?"

"She's my friend." Piper didn't look convinced. _Well_, I wasn't really his friend but I didn't think he was as bad as I'd first thought. "What? Don't you trust me enough for me to have _friends _anymore?" He had a point. Piper had been super possessive of Jason ever since they got back together; it was kind of getting annoying.

"Of course you can have friends sweetie," she smiled a smile Drew would have been proud of.

"Then why are you all in his face?" I asked. I didn't know where this confrontational manner was coming from, it kind of scared me.

"You've never had your heart-broken, kid." Kid? I'm 15 years old! She's not that much older than me. It really annoyed me when people assumed that just because I was new, I was young. Despite being a child of Hades, I actually managed to somewhat take care of myself out in the big bad world. As for having my heart broken? Well to the best of my knowledge,_Piper _had lived a nice life up until she got to camp. She had a rich and very much alive father who loved her. It wasn't my fault she'd hated being rich. Her heart was so called 'broken' by her stupid little high school crush or whatever.

"Piper," Leo warned her, coming over from the Hephaestus table to see what was going on. He knew my full life story, and though he didn't know the full extent of my powers, he knew that you don't want to get on the wrong side of me. That said he _did _know the full extent of Nico's powers and he also knew how protective my big brother was of me –that explained his worried expression.

"What? I'm just saying, she doesn't understand what I'm going through," Piper said. Leo shook his head frantically at her, noticing the subtle drop in temperature and how the sun had just so happened to disappear behind a cloud at the exact moment I was starting to get angry.

"Stop worrying, Leo. I was just saying. You understand that, right Layla?" Piper asked me. I heard the huge dose of charmspeak she'd laced into her voice, trying to hide the slightly incoherent flow of words, but of course it didn't really affect me. "I was just saying how you should stop sticking up for Jason since you don't know how heartbreak can change a person." Maybe if she hadn't said that last sentence none of what happened next would have happened. But that was the last straw. Of course I knew what heartbreak did to a person! I'd watched it change my mother and then it had changed me into what I am today.

"Layla." Nico settled a comforting and restraining hand on my shoulder. He'd shadow travelled to me, having sensed my anger becoming out of control. But he had come too late to calm me, that tugging sensation in my gut had already started and I'd already chosen the perfect curse to give Piper, the girl who suffered from heartbreak.

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**Just in case you were confused by the sudden out burst, Layla's gone through a lot more crap than I've already said and I'll be making that clear in the next few chapters.**

**thanks to you guys who are still reading this, your support means a lot to me x**

**merlinandpercyjacksonfangirl: glad you like it, keep reading :)**

**Nightlock64: Hm... I might actually do that if I can find the right moment. Of course the next few chapters will be developing on the curse.**

**see you next time!**


	9. The Truth is Out

**Helloooooo! sorry for the long wait but i was once again stranded on the island of procrastination surrounded by a sea of writers block. hopefully this chapter is somewhat good enough to make up for our long time apart.**

**as always a huge thank you to my beta, fantasy137**

**enjoy x**

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Chapter 9: The Truth Is Out

My world faded into darkness. Again. I seemed to be making a habit of passing out. I blame Camp Half-Blood; I never used to be like this. Just like all the other times I'd passed out, I regained consciousness to find myself tucked under the black, silk sheets of my bed. Looking around the room, I saw Nico sitting nervously at the end of his bed as he waited for me to come to. By the ominous green glow of the Greek fire illuminating the cabin, I saw his face relax as he saw me stir.

"How are you?" he asked.

I groaned. "I've felt worse I suppose... There was this one time when I almost lost in a fight against a Cyclopes back when I was twelve... I felt worse then."

Nico chuckled at my poor attempt at a joke, which made me smile since I didn't think he'd even recognize that it was one. The topic of jokes made me realize that Leo wasn't with us. That was weird, he was always here, even when I wasn't worse for wear. "Where's Leo?" I asked.

I wasn't comforted by Nico's reaction to that question. His face morphed into a grimace and he asked, "What can you remember?"

The question confused me, but after a little thought, the tragic event from breakfast soon came rushing back to me. I cursed in Ancient Greek. "What happened to her?" I asked nervously.

"You mean what curse did you throw at her?" Nico asked in return.

I nodded.

"I'm not entirely sure," he admitted. "You definitely cursed her because that tell-tale shadow appeared, and then you passed out so I hauled your ass back here before anyone could really register the situation. But, from what the other Aphrodite kids are saying, it seems she's been having hallucinations that everyone around her is dying... what was going through your mind when you cursed her?"

"That she doesn't know shit about heartbreak," I admitted. "It doesn't just come from stupid breakups." Sure, I might never have gone through a breakup. But I was pretty sure that having your mom abandon you and then finding her grave a few years later is a little bit more heartbreaking than breaking up with your boyfriend.

"I'm sorry, Layla," Nico sighed, not knowing what else to say. He knew about my mom but there were some things I hadn't even told him. Things that I'd tried to forget. Things that I liked to think were only really bad nightmares, even though I knew they were painfully real.

-0-

I was twelve years old and had just run away from maybe my fifth foster home (I don't really know, I wasn't counting). Only this time, I wasn't alone.

"Why are we running away?"

Though hardened by abandonment, my heart still managed to melt at the sight of the small girl's big brown eyes, the exact same color of my mother's, staring up at me in confusion.

"Because, Erica," I said to my little sister. I didn't know how I hadn't known about having a little sister, as she must have been around while I was still with my mother, but by then I'd learnt to just go with the strange things that seemed to happen to me every day and follow my instinct. "I don't want the monsters to find us."

The only response I got was an even more confused look, but before I had a chance to explain, I heard a flutter of wings.

Had it merely been a flutter of wings I wouldn't have been too bothered, but with the sound came a strong smell of death; a smell I had become used to and associated with the most dangerous of monsters.

"Get back, get in a shadow and stay quiet," I whispered, pulling Erica back into the closest shadow. I focused on being hidden by the darkness but it didn't seem to have the same effect on Erica and the monster soon found us. There was another flutter of wings and we were suddenly confronted by a hag-like creature.

Before my hand could even twitch in the direction of my dagger, Erica was ripped from my arms and captured by the creature.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Calm down Layla sweetie, this is for your own good," replied the creature.

Quicker than my mind could register, my only friend and the last of my family had been abruptly taken away from me in a flash of white hot hellfire.

"What...?" I gasped.

"Orders from the boss man deary. You'll thank him one day."

"What?" I repeated, completely lost for words.

The creature didn't answer my questions. Instead, it left me in shock to wallow in my grief with no real explanation.

-0-

Shaking my head, I tried to stop thinking about my dark past and focus on my darker future. I had more imminent problems to deal with than sorting through unsolved deaths of randomly appearing family members. "You have nothing to apologize for, Nico," I assured him. "What should we do?"

"Maybe we should go to the Underworld? Father may be able to reverse it or something," he suggested.

"No," I refused. Thinking back had made me realize that it was most probably Hades who was 'the boss' that was responsible for Erica's death. That didn't make me want to go talk to him. "Maybe we should just try and work through this ourselves first."

"Okay," Nico agreed, sensing that going anywhere would be too much for my stress levels.

I lay back on my bed and tried to clear my head -I wasn't going to figure anything out if all I did was worry. "Where_is_Leo?"

Nico grimaced again. "He's with Piper."

"Oh," I muttered. "He hates me now, doesn't he?"

"Hate's a very strong word..." Nico said.

"He hates me," I groaned.

"I don't think Leo could ever_hate_you Layla... it's not in his nature and you're his best friend."

I shook my head. "Piper's his best friend too. And he_loves_her." I sighed, "I'm going to find him. Leo _and_ Piper. I'm going to find them and I'm going to make this right."

"How?"

"I don't know," I admitted before storming over to the Aphrodite cabin.

Cringing at the sudden wave of bright sunlight, I almost made it to the oh-so-perfect porch of the Aphrodite cabin when someone slammed into me. "Leo?!" I cried in shock. I should have known that he'd be in and out of the Aphrodite cabin; he'd be worried about Piper.

"Layla," he replied coldly, much the same way Nico had spoken to Jason earlier.

"Leo, I'm so sorry... I-I wasn't thinking... I... I was angry and, and..."

"I know," he said, his voice still void of any emotion. I could see his hands shaking as he tried not to burst into flames. "I know it's not your fault."

"Then why are you angry at me?" I asked in a broken whisper.

Leo looked at me with a pitiful gaze before pulling back the mask of cold indifference. Only his shaking hands gave away just how angry he was. "Because, Layla, you didn't tell me! I thought we were best friends that told each other everything! Why didn't you tell me that you could curse people? I could have helped you and this never would have happened!"

"I had it all-"

"No," he interrupted. "Don't you dare tell me you had it all under control because evidently_you didn't_."

"I-"

"Don't bother trying to explain yourself. I know that practicing curses is what you were off doing with Nico." He paused as if considering making a joke but kept up his facade. "Do you have any idea what you've done to Piper? She was only voicing her opinion and now you've_ruined her life!_"

"I didn't-"

"I know you didn't mean it Layla..." his use of my full name mixed with the angry undertone of his words, void of all the usual warmth, was like an ice-cold force draining me of what little happiness I had left. "But that's what makes it all the more scary," he finished. Then, he walked off, leaving me to stand alone in the middle of my own proverbial thunder storm.

"You wanna talk about it?" a deep, quiet voice asked.

"Leave me alone, Jason."

When he did nothing but stand there, I ignored the fact that I hated him almost more than I hated myself and threw myself into his arms, burying my face into his shoulder and crying. I don't know how long I stood there, soaking his shirt with my tears. All he did was stand there with his arms wrapped around me, allowing me to ruin his shirt. Eventually he led me back to Cabin Thirteen and sat me down on my bed. The eerie atmosphere of the Hades cabin was much more suited to my mood than the bright sun and blue skies of the outside world, and subsequently made me feel a lot better. Shutting the door behind him, Jason walked over to Nico's bed and sat down. This was when I noticed that Nico was no longer in the cabin.

"Where's Nico?" I asked, wiping away the last of my tears.

"Don't know," Jason answered. "Do you wanna tell me what happened?"

I took in a deep, shaky breath in preparation to tell him_everything,_including the top-secret plans that had gotten me into this whole mess. Before I could begin, however, Nico burst into the cabin with Thalia on his tail.

"What have you told him?" he asked worriedly.

"Nothing... yet..."

"Don't tell him anything!" Nico fumed. "They've been spying on us!"

* * *

**the next chapter will be my poor attempt at thickening the plot but of course if you've read this far you must be able to at least tolerate my writing style (god knows how :D) **

**J.D: well i'm very glad that you did check the pjo fanfics that morning, glad you like it and keep reading :)**

**iamyourbiggestfan01 : I hope this chapter explained most things to do with Piper, thanks for reviewing :)**

**Nightlock64 : coffee suits everyone if you stay up late enough haha, i think i went with my original curse despite its lack of creative flare... I think i can make it work though **

**the next chapter should be up soon, keep reading and being awesome x **


	10. The Truth is Out Again

**Sorry for the wait, this is the last chapter.**

**as always a huge thank you to my wonderful beta, fantasy137**

* * *

Chapter 10: The Truth Is Out… Again

Nico watched as his little sister stormed out of the cabin. He briefly considered stopping her, noticing how she stumbled a bit. She still hadn't recovered fully. Finally, he decided it would be better to just let her go; if nothing else Layla was incredibly headstrong.

A slight figure appeared in the door way. The girl looked like she could be a daughter of Hades, and if her hair had been longer and Nico hadn't been concentrating, he would have thought she was Layla. But the bow over her back and her electric blue eyes told him otherwise.

"What do you want, Thalia?" Nico asked.

"What will happen if my father finds out about Hades' plans?"

Nico stared at her in shock for a good few minutes. Then he stood up and strode toward her, fixing her with the best death glare he could muster. Thanks to a recent growth spurt, he towered over her, adding extra effect to his first class glare. "How in Hades do you know about those plans?"

"I don't know about them," Thalia replied as calmly as she could.

"Clearly you do," Nico growled.

Thalia sighed. "Okay, fine. Jason and I got called up to Olympus and Zeus told us that Hades was making plans to overthrow him but he didn't know exactly what the plans were. All he knew... or all he told us... was that it involved his demigod children –you."

"So?"

"So we were sent here to spy on you and find out what the plans were."

Nico knew he should have been angry. He should have screamed and shouted and then beat the crap out of both children of Zeus. But the fact of the matter was that he actually had a crush on Thalia, and he just couldn't be mad at her, no matter how hard he tried. Instead, he sighed and said, "Well I'm not going to tell you. Zeus can't find out, it'll ruin everything and probably get us killed."

Thalia nodded in understanding. "Yeah, I get it. I knew this would be a waste of time. It's just another family brawl and we just have to get caught up in the middle."

Nico nodded in agreement. He sat down and thought back to the strict orders he'd been given by his father.

* * *

"So here's the plan," Hades began. "Layla, you have a vast and rare talent. You have the power to curse people."

"That's not that rare, you here of quite a few curses in Greek mythology," Layla said.

"It is rare to have a natural talent to curse that is as powerful as yours," Hades said. "Nico, you must help her refine it. Use your necromancy powers. When you feel ready come to me. Be prepared!"

"Prepared for what?" Nico asked.

"For the downfall of the King of Olympus!"

"Why, is he sick?" Nico asked.

"No you fool; we're going to curse him!"

Nico smirked. "Great idea! Who needs a king? No king, no king lalalalala!"

"Idiot!" Hades fumed. "There will _be _a king!"

"But you just said..." Layla began.

"_I _will be king!"

"I don't know..." Layla muttered. "I don't think I can _curse _the _King of Olympus_!"

"Of course you can. I have faith in you child," Hades said.

"It seems wrong..."

"I'm the King of the Underworld!" Hades fumed. "I hardly sit around here in my literal hell hole plotting world peace!"

"How is that supposed to get us on board?" Layla asked.

"He _is_ our dad," Nico reasoned. Layla still didn't look convinced.

"How about I sweeten the deal?" Hades suggested. "Do as I say and I bring your families back?"

This made both demigods fall quiet. With a sigh, they both agreed to go through with the plan.

"One more thing," Hades called as the two began to leave. "Don't tell anyone, no one at all. We can't risk Zeus finding out."

* * *

Thalia stared at Nico as his eyes became dazed until she just couldn't take the silence anymore. "Hey, Nico, you okay?"

Nico's head suddenly snapped up. "Huh?" he said, dazed. "Oh yeah, I'm fine. I was just... thinking."

"About the plan?" Thalia asked.

Nico nodded.

"Still not gonna tell me what it is?"

Frowning, Nico shook his head again. "It's not a good plan... in any sense really. But if we go through with it, Dad said he'll bring our families back."

"I understand. I'd do anything to get my mom back... even if she wasn't the best mom in the world. I know for certain that if I hadn't already found Jason and I was given the chance to find him, I would take that chance in a heartbeat." Thalia moved to sit next to Nico so she could comfort him. Upon closer inspection, the poor boy looked impossibly tired and completely done with the world. It was clear that his older sister was his motivation to do something with his life and she was ripped away from him. She could see in his eyes that he felt as if he had nothing apart from this glimmer of hope that Bianca could return to him. "Even if this doesn't work out though," she began in an attempt to further comfort him, "You'd still have Layla."

Nico's frown deepened. "I'm afraid she might not survive this. You can't deny that she's powerful; just look at what she did to Piper. But she's not mentally prepared for something like this; she's already been through too much. I don't want to lose her too." He said the last part in a quiet and broken whisper that made Thalia just want to hug him and let him never have to deal with anything bad ever again.

This made her think about how Jason had set out to find Layla so he could draw the plans out of her. Gods forbid that he was more successful than she had been with Nico. "Nico...You know how I said we were sent here to spy on you?"

Nico nodded his head cautiously.

"Well... Jason seemed a little more eager than me to please our dad and find out the plans... he went out looking for Layla. I saw her on my way here; she seemed to be in a very fragile state... I'm scared that she might tell Jason everything just because he's someone who'll listen."

Nico's pale face somehow managed to turn even paler. Grabbing Thalia's wrist, he dragged her out of the cabin and together they began frantically looking for their younger siblings. In his panic, he failed to use his link to his little sister to find her straight away and just ran around the camp, dragging Thalia behind him. Eventually, they saw Jason leading a sobbing Layla back to the Hades cabin.

The two ran after their younger siblings, both hoping that no vital information had been given out.

Nico burst into the cabin with Thalia on his tail.

"What have you told him?" he asked worriedly.

"Nothing... yet..."

"Don't tell him anything!" Nico fumed. "They've been spying on us!"

Thalia held her hands up in surrender, taken aback by the furious glare she received from the youngest child of Hades. "I didn't want to! I didn't even try very hard."

Jason scowled at his sister. "I was only doing as I was asked by my _father_. I am a Roman demigod, we take orders very seriously. What I was doing was for the good of Olympus, I don't know why you're looking at me like that when your actions were only helping yourself," he snapped at Layla who had turned her glare onto him.

"Hey, Lays," Nico said worriedly. "As much as I'd love to see it happen... maybe you _shouldn't _curse him."

Layla sighed and backed down. Nico's use of her nickname given to her by Leo had made her focus on the issue she'd set out to resolve not ten minutes ago. "Fine, count yourself lucky you sonovabitch. And get out of my cabin!"

"But," Jason tried to protest.

"GET OUT OF MY CABIN!"

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**It's not much of a cliff hanger, I know. I'm afraid to tell you that this is the end of this story but fear not! There will be a sequel :)**

**thanks soooo much for all of the reviews, you guys are the best! here have all the cookies! (::)(::)(::)(::)(::)(::) (courtesy of Irisa0816 :P)**

**crystalmarina : thank you, I shall cherish this gold star please take a cookie**

**atarliss: thanks :)**

**Guest: donkey hole's a new one! I like it. Nico is one of my favorite pjo characters so I'm glad you like him, we finally find out what Hades wanted them to do in this chapter! thanks for reviewing x**

**Irisa0816: thanks for the cookies! I'm afraid i'm British and don't have the currency to pay... Maybe you accept drachmas?**

**CUPKAKESXD: Yes I can please finish, here I am, finished. Hope you'll read the sequel x**

**Nyx811: I update as quick as I can :) thanks for reviewing x**

**I'll have the sequel up as soon as possible. Please review and tell me what you think should happen, I can't guarantee that I'll include your idea but I'll definitely appreciate the suggestion and try to incorporate it into the story line. Keep being awesome.**

**feel free to PM me too. If it's with a suggestion or just to talk or even to rant about how INCORRECT the sea of monsters was. I don't think the directors even tried.**

**see you in the sequel xx**


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